Chapter 86: The Iliad (2)  

Aheuman finished the long ritual and descended from the altar.

Due to days of non-stop offerings, his entire body was drenched in sweat.

Eventually, as Aheuman descended from the altar and saw the entire village so deserted, he chuckled.

“…At this point, everyone must have been affected by the plague.”

In fact, he knew in advance that the Red Death would rampage in the jungle.

It’s strange not to know. The fact is, Aheuman himself had been collaborating with outsiders for quite some time.

The Reviadon family either helped him conduct clinical trials of new drugs or toxins on the unsuspecting natives or encouraged and supported the Bourgeois family in unfair trade practices.

In exchange for secretly supplying the natives for toxic or drug experiments, the Reviadon family gave him new poisons or remedies, which eventually established the authority of a shaman.

For example, they secretly released the toxin and poisoned the subject, then cured them with the remedy they had, gaining trust, and so on.

Giving disease and giving medicine.

If someone didn’t follow his orders, he secretly released the poison, causing them to be poisoned and collapse.

This would not only affect the poisoned patients but also their friends and families, all falling into despair together.

Everyone sticking together in the oppressive atmosphere of the jungle was only natural.

When the patient’s life seemed to be in danger, Aheuman would finally step in.

With a convincing ritual and the medicine he had, he would heal the patient, and then the patient’s family and friends would all become fervent followers of Aheuman.

They would become submissive before the authority of the shaman, unable to utter a word.

Lately, he had been feeling that the authority of the shaman was declining, which was already a crisis.

The young ones, including the chief’s daughter Aiyen, had never been infected or poisoned by the disease, so they didn’t know how to respect the authority of the shaman.

Since the arrival of the despised foreigner from the Empire, it had gotten even worse.

The young ones went out to hunt without receiving various blessings from the shaman and treated all the rituals as unnecessary customs or superstitions.

At that time, the proposal from the Reviadon family was truly intriguing.

“We plan to conduct a large-scale epidemic experiment in the jungle.”

At the words of the Reviadon family’s messenger, covered in a black cloak, Aheuman swallowed his dry saliva.

The Reviadon family’s messenger gave Aheuman the pathogen of the Red Plague and his antidote.

He was told to spread the disease when appropriate and then cure it when necessary.

Through this clinical trial, Reviadon planned to control the population of the jungle natives and accumulate clinical pathological data to open up new possibilities.

Aheuman planned to enhance the authority of the fallen shaman by actively cooperating with this.

So he secretly released the Red Death into the river, and countless people were forced into death.

By now, everyone would be caught in the plague and wandering in despair, so it was time to make a grand entrance and release the antidote to quell the situation and gain authority that surpassed the chief.

He was sure that even the arrogant young ones who had ignored him would now send him looks of respect and awe.

“…Just in case, I infected my granddaughter too. To avoid suspicion.”

To avoid suspicions of intentionally releasing the toxin, he had infected his own granddaughter as an epidemic patient, so everything was perfect.That was Aheuman’s plan.

…But?

As Aheuman walked to the center of the village, he could only raise an eyebrow.

The village was eerily empty.

The sick, their families, and friends were naturally weakened in spirit, seeking places to rely on.

Surely, they would have put all their hopes on him, the one performing the ritual, but there was no one coming out to greet him.

“Have they all died already?”

Aheuman frowned. Was the plague so severe that the Ballak tribe members had all died?

That would be troublesome. They had to hurt just enough to die. After all, they had to stay alive to become followers.

With a pouch containing the antidote he had manufactured in Reviadon, Aheuman quickly crossed the village square.

But all the surrounding huts were completely empty.

Only frogs croaked loudly in puddles where the water had drained away.

That’s when.

Aheuman came to a sudden stop in his tracks.

From one corner of the village, a smoky haze was rising.

And it seemed like every face he knew was gathered there.

All the people of Ballak were gathered in one place.

They were laughing heartily, chatting, and feasting on piles of meat.

“???”

Aheuman’s mouth fell open.

How? How were they all so perfectly fine? He had seen them infected with the Red Death until just before the ritual, hadn’t he?

Aheuman rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, but nothing changed.

Even the woman stirring a pot inside, using a ladle, was none other than his granddaughter Ahul!

Seeing his granddaughter looking perfectly healthy, Aheuman’s mouth fell open even wider.

In disbelief, Aheuman turned away from the unbelievable reality.

He sprinted in leaps and bounds, crossing the boundary of Ballak, and headed to the source of the river. It was the very river where he had released the Red Death.

“…Huff, haa!”

Like the wind, he arrived at the source in the blink of an eye, and he was astonished once again.

Clearly, the source of the river, which should have been contaminated by the Red Death, still had clear water flowing through it.

The white salt sand dunes, the fish swimming against the waterfall, everything was the same.

The monkeys that should have been infected and died from the Red Death were frolicking in the trees, and even children from another tribe who came to catch fish appeared to be healthy.

There was no sign of death or disease anywhere.

“This can’t be! How…!?”

Aheuman clenched his hair.At that moment.

“Why are you surprised that so many are still alive?”

There was a sudden, piercing comment that cut deep into Aheuman’s lungs.

Startled, Aheuman turned his head.

And behind him, a young boy revealed himself.

Vikir. He was casting a crimson gaze toward Aheuman.

Meanwhile, Vikir had been leading all of Ballak’s warriors, including Aiyen and Ahun, in hiding here.

Aiyen remembered exactly what Vikir had said to everyone.

“Aheuman will check the condition of the villagers immediately after the ritual, and when he realizes that their illnesses are completely cured, he will be surprised and rush here.”

Why? Because he was the one responsible for spreading the Red Death throughout the jungle.

Vikir had heard about Aheuman’s actions before he regressed.

He couldn’t remember Aheuman’s name, but he vividly remembered that there was a traitor within Ballak who helped spread the Red Death and that the traitor was an elder with a position in shamanism.

“Half of our enemies and the natives of the Black Mountain died then.”

Aheuman had waited for the moment when the epidemic would spread most extensively to satisfy his greed.

It was the perfect opportunity to become the savior of the entire jungle.

But Aheuman had missed his chance.

The epidemic had spread uncontrollably beyond measure, and as a result, most of the patients had died one after another.

The disaster that had unfolded from then on was so terrible that it would be recorded as a significant event in the Empire’s history.

Those who died in the scheming of the powerful were the powerless and weak civilians.

While using toxins and remedies appropriately was indeed a means of shamanic domination, Aheuman had gone too far.

“…What’s going on?”

Aheuman gave Vikir a wary look, but he couldn’t take any action.

All of Ballak’s warriors were already surrounding him.

Young or old, they were all looking at Aheuman with extremely hostile eyes.

As someone who had expected everyone’s respectful gaze, Aheuman was going crazy.

“How did you cure the plague?”

Aheuman was deeply confused by the situation, which he couldn’t understand at all.

That’s when someone appeared in front of Aheuman.

As Aheuman confirmed the person’s face, his face turned deathly pale.

Ballak’s Chieftain, ‘Night Fox,’ Aquilla, was looking down at Aheuman with a stern gaze.

She held a single piece of paper in her hand, a diplomatic document she had obtained personally from the Empire last night.

“The Faithful Clan Quovadis declared a holy war against the ruthless Reviadon family. They claimed that they artificially developed and spread the ‘Red Death’ plague. This is a statement demanding an investigation into the truth of the Red Death incident.”

“I-I see, but why are you giving it to me…?”

“Shaman, don’t you find this strange? Why did the plague that was being researched by the Reviadon family spread here in the wilderness?”

“I, I, I don’t know. I have been conducting rituals at the altar all this time, just to heal our tribespeople, and had just come out…”

Upon hearing this, Aquila raised her hand to silence Aheuman.

Then, she exchanged a glance with Vikir who was standing beside her before speaking.

“It’s not necessary anymore. I just want to see what’s inside the pouch around your waist.”